Warm Heart
by urbasic
Summary: One trip to the Poconos and the feelings of two longtime friends finally spill out, changing just about everything.
1. Chapter 1

_Warm Heart_

CHAPTER 1

* * *

The snow had hit Pennsylvania around the end of November to the beginning of December, and the people in Rosewood didn't take the holiday season lightly. Trees and decorations had already went up, far too premature for Christmas. And in the Hastings household, the big trip to the Poconos was being planned. The Hastings, being the rich Hastings, had a lavish cabin up in the Poconos, which they occasionally visited when their youngest daughter Spencer was off of school. And with the holiday season arriving, they had planned a trip there during her winter break.

They'd also be bringing their next door neighbors, who were also just classified as family friends: the Cavanaughs. Friday was Spencer's last day of the first semester of school, and also the last day of her semester finals, which was a huge relief. She had headed home that Friday to pack her bags for the big trip. They'd be leaving on Saturday morning.

Interrupting her hour of consecutive packing was a knock on the door. She sighed, getting up from the floor and opening it. She smiled when she discovered that it was the son of the Cavanaughs: Toby. He was her age, and they had been very good friends for quite a long time. They had met back in middle school, although they didn't become extremely close until ninth grade. He started spending more time with her, and coming over quite often. Their friendship had developed well, and she'd practically tell him anything at this point.

"Hey," he greeted, stepping inside. "You haven't finished packing?"

She shook her head.

"I've been so busy studying for finals and sending in the last of my college applications that I haven't had time to pack for this stupid trip," she groaned.

"Stupid?" he questioned.

She laughed quietly.

"Sorry, I was just saying it in the moment. I do want to go," she told him. "It's going to be fun, and I'm really glad you're coming with my family this year. Usually, our trips are super boring. My pretentious parents and my pretentious sister having pretentious conversations all throughout the trip... not the best thing ever."

"Well, I'll try my hardest to make sure it doesn't suck," he said, grinning slightly.

"It won't. It'll be a great way to get my mind off of all the crap that's been happening, and it does _not_ help me to hear about Hanna's break up and relationship problems," she sighed. "She's so occupied with telling me every last detail about her break up that she hasn't bothered to ask me about my own. Not that I'm complaining, though. She's a good friend, and I don't exactly want to talk about it anyways."

His jaw hung slightly ajar for a moment. _He_ hadn't even heard that she and her boyfriend had broken up- not Hanna- but Spencer.

"I don't mean to be _that_ person, but you and Andrew broke up?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

She stared at the floor, and ran a hand through her hair.

"I forgot I didn't tell you.." she muttered. "I thought I'd already mentioned it somewhere, but I guess I don't exactly remember what I've been doing or saying recently. Everything's been such a blur. College apps, finals, the break up, my friends. I need a break. Thank God it's here."

He didn't want to push any further by asking her more about the break up, so he let it go. Although he was pretty happy to hear that she wasn't with that jackass of a guy anymore. Andrew wasn't a _bad_ boyfriend, he was just, equally as busy as Spencer, so he didn't care for her as he should. He was a good guy. He had a good personality, good looks, and good everything. Except, his time was critically divided from being a football player, the senior class president, the president of many different school clubs, having perfect grades in his AP classes, all while having a girlfriend.

Sometimes Spencer expressed some sadness about how he forgot major events in their relationship, didn't respond to her text messages, or just overall didn't pay attention to her. She didn't elaborate on it much, because she liked to keep her relationship information quite private. Toby didn't _hate_ Andrew for what he did. He understood- the guy had a busy life. But, Toby didn't understand how somebody wouldn't find the time for a girl like Spencer. He knew what a great girl she was, and she did deserve somebody who would actually pay attention to her.

"It's okay," Toby quietly said, and reached over to squeeze her hand. "The Poconos should be fun. Besides, I don't have to deal with Jenna's whining all through winter break!"

Spencer raised her eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "Isn't she coming with us, too?"

He shook his head.

"She's going to a two week winter music camp instead," he grinned. "It'll be just like old times, before my dad got remarried.. except, my stepmom is coming, but I don't really mind her. Jenna's usually my problem, and now she's not."

The brunette smiled.

"Well.." he spoke up, due to the silence. "I'll be on my way out-"

She cut him off, "Toby."

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Sometimes I forget to ask because I'm so preoccupied with my own crappy problems, but you deserve a friend that actually asks you how you are. So, how are you?" she asked, her brown eyes locking with his piercing blue eyes.

"I'm.. good," he answered, swallowing hard. "Thank you for asking.."

She gave him a look of disbelief.

"You're good?" she asked. "There's nothing on your mind? Nothing bothering you? Am I the _only_ one who stresses out?"

"We all stress out from time to time, but nobody stresses quite like Spencer Hastings does," he chuckled, and sat down on her couch. "I'm okay, though. Everything in my life has been pretty perfect. I'm settling with myself."

"That's good," she commented.

"Yeah, it is," he agreed.

He stood back up, although he had only sat for a short moment. He knew he was lying to himself. He wasn't okay. He just wasn't. She was on his mind, and he couldn't stop thinking about her. And he knew she didn't want to talk about her break up, but he wanted to know. He just didn't want to cross her boundaries and make her run away from him. He was always afraid of losing her because he'd say the wrong thing.

"Good luck packing, Spencer," he chuckled. "I should go double check and make sure I have all the things I need for the trip, too."

"Okay," she nodded her head. "Goodbye, Toby."

She wasn't looking back at him when she said that, since she was busy continuing to pack her bags, but he glanced back at her admiringly.

"Goodbye, Spencer," he smiled. "See you first thing in the morning.."


	2. Chapter 2

_Warm Heart_

CHAPTER 2

* * *

"Melissa! Welcome home, honey!"

The house was in a surprisingly cheerful mood, as Spencer's extremely successful older sister had came to visit for the holidays. She took off time from her job from a high-end law firm so she could go on the trip with her family. She had majored in law at the University of Pennsylvania, which was the college for just about every Hastings. It was like a Hastings tradition to go to UPenn. Their mother and father had both went, and so had Melissa. Spencer was the next in line, and if she didn't go there, she would probably become the family disappointment. The kid the parents tried to avoid talking about at family get-togethers.

"You look so lovely, sweetheart," Peter Hastings said, wrapping his eldest daughter in a fuzzy hug. "How has the law firm been? Good?"

She smiled and nodded her head, just as the Hastings daughters were trained to do. Although Melissa really did have all the reasons in the world to be happy with her life. She was beautiful, happily married, and had great success with her career.

"It's such a shame Ian couldn't make it for the trip," Veronica Hastings sighed, shaking her head. "We don't get to see our handsome son-in-law much, do we? I miss seeing what an adorable couple you two make! You need to bring him over some time. I miss him."

"We'd _love_ to," Melissa said, with the same smile. "Ian couldn't get time off of work, so he had to stay back. I had abandoning him for Christmas and New Year's, but he understands. He's even considering coming down here just for those two events. His boss says he can have time off when it's closer to the actual holidays."

"Perfect. Tell him he's more than welcome to drop by any time," Peter nodded his head.

"Spencer," Veronica said in a stern tone. "Aren't you going to come say hello to your sister after she's been away for so long?"

"Of course," Spencer sighed. "Hi, Melissa.."

Melissa raised her eyebrows.

"Finals kicking your ass?" she asked with a laugh.

"They _shouldn't_ be. Spencer, your sister handled all her finals without a complaint. Why can't you do the same?" Veronica asked.

"I didn't even say one word about my finals. She did," Spencer rolled her eyes.

"Never mind, Mom. Let's leave it alone," Melissa said, putting a hand on her mother's shoulder. "It's good to see you again, Spencer. You look great."

"Thanks," she responded with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

There was a knock on the door, and the Hastings, except Melissa, knew what that meant. The Cavanaughs had arrived. Peter walked to the door and opened it, smiling when the family was standing there, minus Jenna Marshall, their stepdaughter.

"Daniel, Anna, it's so great to see you. And you too, bud!" he exclaimed, pointing at Toby.

"The Cavanaughs are here?" Melissa perked up, surprised. "No one informed me they'd be coming. It's so great to see all of you!"

"Melissa, you look stunning!" Anna exclaimed. "Your parents haven't stopped talking about all the great work you're doing at your law firm. It's so amazing to see how your career has blossomed since you grew up around Jenna and Toby. So, is Ian coming as well?"

"No," Melissa responded with a sigh. "He's stuck at work, but he may join us for the holidays."

"Well, I hope he does," Anna said, putting her arm around her husband.

The drive to the Poconos was about three hours, including the breaks to get food. Toby had hoped he and Spencer would talk on the way there, but she was _extremely_ occupied by her cell phone. From the moment they got in the van, she hadn't stopped texting. He figured she didn't want to hear her parents raving about how great Melissa was the entire way. They hadn't once mentioned Spencer's accomplishments, and he could see how bad that sucked. It was obvious she was trying to tune them out.

They parked the van outside the grand Poconos cabin, and the group exited.

"Spencer, why don't you show Toby to the other smaller bedroom?" Veronica asked her daughter. "I'm going to show Daniel and Anna their master bedroom. You know where to go, right?"

She nodded her head, and Toby came by her side.

"Not in the mood to talk to me today, or...?" he began to ask.

"I'm sorry," she immediately apologized. "Melissa's arrival sucks. This trip would be better without her."

"She's not trying to hurt you," he tried.

"Well, it seems that my parents don't give a crap about anything I've been doing at school. All the awards I've been winning, the grades I've been getting.. in fact, they didn't even bother to ask about the grades on my finals. And my teachers uploaded the grades. I aced them all," she announced.

"Congratulations!" he exclaimed, grinning. "You don't need your parents to be proud of what you do in school."

She shrugged her shoulders, and the two of them entered the cabin. She led him up the stairs to one of the smaller bedrooms.

"It's actually cozy up here once you get used to it," she smiled, seating herself down on his bed. "Plus, I'm one door down, so you can come in whenever you wanna drink a cup of hot chocolate with me and just talk by the fireplace or some stupid crap."

"Stupid crap?" he chuckled. "That doesn't sound stupid to me at all."

He sat down on the bed next to her. She turned her head, and her eyes locked with his.

"Well, I-" she began to speak, but was cut off by the sound of the door opening.

In the doorway was Melissa, holding the bag of toiletries in her hand.

"You forgot to get your toothbrush from my bag," her older sister announced, swaying the navy blue toothbrush in the air.

"I hadn't got around to unpacking my bags yet, since Mom told me to show Toby to his room," she reminded, rolling her eyes. "Tobes, I'm gonna go get my stuff unpacked. I'll talk to you in a bit, okay?"

He nodded his head, watching her carefully as she left. She picked up her toothbrush on the way out. Melissa exited at the same time, practically following her.

"What do you want now, Melissa?" Spencer asked.

"You like him!" her sister teased, a smirk on her face.

" _What_?" Spencer said, as if it was crazy to like him. "Where in the world did you get that idea from? He's my friend, Mel."

"You're kidding," she furrowed her eyebrows. "Something just seems... off. I don't feel the whole 'friends' thing."

"Learn to feel it, because he's only a friend to me," Spencer assured her. "You're overanalyzing everything. You haven't even been here long enough to know what it's like between us. You've been gone off to college and your law firm, so how on earth would you know if we're friends or more? And for the record, we are friends. Only friends. He's just like Hanna, Aria, and Emily to me. A friend."

"I can tell when people have feelings for each other. And man, either he likes you, or you like him. Or maybe both. Maybe it's mutual," she wiggled her eyebrows. "Relax, Spencer. I'm not going to tell him if you like him. I'll let you two work out your romantic issues."

" _Romantic issues_?" Spencer rolled her eyes. "Hard to do, since we're just friends.."

"Oh, are you still with that Andrew kid?" Melissa asked curiously.

"I'm not here to discuss my love life with you!" Spencer cried.

"Okay, so that means you two broke up. I never saw it between you guys, anyways. I knew that relationship would end sooner or later," Melissa said.

Spencer raised her eyebrows, and walked right past her sister. She was _not_ about to discuss her romantic issues with her. She really didn't want to talk about her break up with anyone, except one of her three best friends, but they were all so busy with their own lives that they didn't have time to ask her about her own relationship. It sucked. She kind of wanted to get everything off her chest, but not to Melissa Hastings. Never.

 _FLASHBACK_

 _"And the two running for freshmen class president are Andrew Campbell and Spencer Hastings."_

 _The brunette scanned the room to find this kid. She was hoping she would run unopposed for class president. Her parents were going to be so pissed off at her if she didn't win. Melissa had been class president all four years in high school. Not winning the election was not an option._

 _And there, on the other side of the first period classroom, was the preppy blonde freshman, dressed in his khaki shorts and navy blue Rosewood High School polo. She knew she had seen that face around school, but never thought he would be the one to run against her in the election. After class, she brushed right past his buff frame, trying to make a point as she entered the hallway. To her surprise, he reached out to grab her shoulder and pull her back around._

 _"I'm guessing you're pissed off that I'm running for class president," he said, arching his eyebrow._

 _"No," she mumbled. "I don't care. There's no such thing as competition to me."_

 _He scoffed._

 _"I know who you are. You're Spencer Hastings. Everybody talks about how you have the rich parents that will probably kill you if you don't win this election," he smirked. "Are you sure you want to have a fair fight?"_

 _She rolled her eyes._

 _"You don't even know me," she said, folding her arms._

 _"Maybe. But I do know that I'm going to beat you in the election," he told her with a grin._

 _"Well. It's been a pleasure meeting you, Andrew," she rolled her eyes._

 _He was even worse than she had thought._

It made her chuckle when she thought about the first time she met Andrew. So innocent, so devious... Little did she know how big he'd become in her life back when it was just them as opponents in the freshmen class president election. She wanted it badly, and he knew it. So, they didn't start off on the right foot. In fact, she despised him ever since that first moment she had seen his face in class when her first period teacher announced he was running for president as well. And she despised him even more when he made those remarks to her after class.

She sighed and then returned to Toby's room. He was laying on the bed, scrolling through his phone.

"Did you come on this trip just to be on your phone?" Spencer asked with a laugh.

"No, but my only source of entertainment ditched me," he responded, setting his phone down on the table with a grin. "Are you staying, or are you going to leave me again?"

"Hmm, depends," she playfully rolled her eyes. "Do you _want_ me to stay?"

"Would I ever want you to go?" he rolled his eyes back.

She sat down on the bed next to him, laying back onto the same pillow. They were right next to each other.

"Spence," he started, and she looked over at him.

"Yeah?"

"I've been trying to avoid asking, but.. what happened between you and Andrew?" Toby asked, furrowing his eyebrows. His eyes locked on her, but her eyes moved elsewhere. She stared at the floor, beginning to think about her earliest memories with Andrew again.

 _"There's no way you're going to win the election!" Veronica Hastings shouted. "I know what is going on at your school, and that Andrew boy is going to win. He is just going to win. You know your sister won, don't you? She won all four years, not just one. You're starting off your first year by losing, Spencer?"_

 _"Mom, I'm sorry!" she argued back. "There's nothing I can do! I tried my hardest, and it's not my fault that the people in my school didn't vote for me-"_

 _"No, you say you tried your hardest, but did you really?" Veronica raised her eyebrows. "There's always something more you could have done to win the election. Do you think the University of Pennsylvania is going to accept any average girl? They want people outside the box. Not everyone can say they were class president all four years, but your sister can. And accomplishments like these are what set her apart, and what got her into that school, and many other elite schools. How are you planning on getting in now, huh?"_

 _"I'll figure it out!" she cried. "I'll run again next year, and I'll do other stu-"_

 _"And what if you lose next year, too?" Veronica demanded. "Chances are, the children will vote for the Andrew boy again next year. I have to get to a meeting. You better improve that speech and get more people to vote for you. You need to win this, Spencer."_

 _Spencer sighed when she watched her mother walk away from her and to the parking lot. The brunette ran a hand through her hair. Round two of their speeches was going to come up. Her mother had come to see her in the first one, and she was not impressed by the audience's lack of applause for her, and the craze of applause for Andrew._

 _"Spencer..." the blonde boy began, stepping up to her behind the auditorium stage, which was where they had just given their speeches._

 _Her eyes widened in shock, and slight disgust. She was crying, and he wasn't supposed to see her like this. She was supposed to seem fearless._

 _"Wh, what do you want?" she stumbled on her words, trying to compose herself again._

 _She stood back up, turning to face him, wiping every last tear she could._

 _"Are you crying?" he asked, which caused the tears to start rolling down her face again._

 _"No," she clearly lied, since the tears were streaming down her cheeks. She sniffled and stared at the floor. "Okay, I am. So what if I am!? My mom and I got into a little fight, and it means nothing-"_

 _"It means something to me," he told her. "I didn't know it was like that for you. I didn't know you had that much pressure to win. I didn't know it was so serious, and I'm sorry. I don't want this as much as you do."_

 _"I don't need you to feel sorry for me. It doesn't change anything," she snapped at him, and brushed right past him again, exiting the auditorium._

 _She appreciated his concern, but it was true: it didn't change anything._

"Spencer?" Toby poked. "Are you still on Earth?"

She snapped back into reality.

"Oh, yeah.. I'm sorry," she mumbled. "What were we talking about?"

"Andrew," he responded. "Well, I asked you about Andrew, and why you broke up-"

"Crap happened," she answered too quickly. "We just weren't working out."

He knew that meant she still didn't feel like talking about it, and he didn't blame her. Who would want to talk about a bad break up when they were supposed to be having a fun, stress-free winter break?

She stared back at the floor, and continued to think about him.

 _"I'm going to make an announcement about the freshmen class president elections," her first period teacher had said. "There's been a slight change in the elections, and Andrew Campbell's name is going to be removed from the ballot because he is dropping from the race, leaving our winter to be.. Spencer Hastings."_

 _The brunette's head poked up from her seat. Her eyes widened. Andrew dropped the race? She glanced over at him. She should have been happy about it. Her mother wasn't going to kill her now, and she got to be class president. But she wasn't happy. She wasn't satisfied. She didn't like it._

 _After class, she immediately went up to him when he was leaving the classroom._

 _"Spencer, hey," he greeted with a soft smile._

 _It wasn't a cocky jerk smile like he had before. It was genuine. It was real._

 _"You dropped the election," she noted._

 _"I know.. I'm the one that decided to drop it," he chuckled._

 _"Why?" she demanded. "Why would you do this? For me?"_

 _"No, I just don't think I'm well-suited to be the class president. They deserve somebody hard working, brilliant, and amazing like you," he told her with yet another genuine smile. "You deserve to be the class president, Spencer. I know it, and they should, too."_

 _"The flattery is nice, but I know this is about what happened at the first speech day," she sighed. "You're doing this because you heard what my mom said, and that's not okay with me. To win like this.. that's not what I've ever wanted."_

 _"But your mom.. she'll be happy," he reminded her. "She'll be so happy to know you won."_

 _"I don't care!" Spencer cried. "You're not dropping out. I'm not letting you hold this against me, and continuously say that I owe you one because you dropped this for the rest of your life."_

 _"That's what you care about?" he chuckled. "That's not going to happen. I wouldn't do that. I chose to do this."_

 _"Since when do you care about me?" she demanded._

 _"Would it kill you to stop trying to find out if I have some ulterior jerk motive and just grow a pair and say thank you to me?" he laughed even harder._

 _Instead of thanking him, she pulled him in for a long hug. A meaningful one, at that.. his hands wrapped around her, holding her close to his chest. He didn't get it, but he let her do it anyways. He was fine with the decision he made. She deserved this._

 _"You can't drop the election," she told him. "You just can't do it. This is probably one of the nicest things anyone has done for me, but you can't do it."_

 _"Spencer..." he sighed. "I don't want your mom to-"_

 _"Don't worry about me, and don't worry about my mom," she said._

 _"I can't help but worry," he confessed._

 _"Promise me you'll enter the election again. Okay? Just promise me," she begged._

 _"Fine. On one condition. You let me buy you a coffee some time," he smiled._

 _She just smiled and nodded her head. Andrew Campbell wasn't so bad after all._


End file.
